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Under the Influence
A meddling television writer-producer accompanies Sanchez and Tao on a ride-along so he can get an inside look at the LAPD. But what starts out as a simple outing quickly gets out of hand. And Rusty employees some unfair help when his teacher makes him re-write an essay. The Victim *Jose Garza *Two other car thieves The Suspects *Manuel Luis Vega Aguilar *Rosa Vega Evidence Closing the Case After the squad finds the bodies of Jose Garza and his two men in the chop shop, the suspect agrees to talk. He explains his name is Juan Diaz and he steals cars, takes them to the chop shop and helps take them apart. He stole Rosa Vega's Taurus and took it to the shop where while in one of the car pits, he heard sounds and then the bodies of Garza and his men were dumped in to it. He got covered in blood as he hid under the bodies and left after the killers were gone. He ran because he was driving a stolen car covered in blood and was scared. However, Julio is skeptical of his story as he worked with Garza and his men and had no idea who they were. Diaz offers to self-deport and with no other evidence to dispute his story, DDA Hobbs is inclined to let him. However, Agent Morris arrives with the information that Diaz's real name is Manuel Luis Vega Aguilar and he's wanted for drug racketeering in Mexico. Julio realizes that Aguilar works for the cartels as a drug runner and wants to go back to Mexico where he can bribe his way out. However, Raydor realizes that his last name is Vega Aguilar, something that is taken from both parents and he is thus Rosa Vega's son. After remembering that Vega was eager to have her car back, the police search it and find three million dollars in black tar heroin hidden through the dashboard. Placing molding clay in its place, they return the car to Vega with cameras hidden inside and arrest her after watching her remove what she believes to be heroin from the car. The squad confronts Vega and Aguilar for their crimes but both deny their parts. Vega claims that she didn't know her car was full of heroin and when she got it back it was filled with molding clay so she wasn't in possession of drugs and thus can't be charged with that. She reveals that she is a lawyer in Mexico and studied American laws too so she knows this, but also lets slip that she's aware that her son stopped at a Starbucks for coffee on the way home where the car was stolen when Aguilar had no phone when he was arrested to contact her with. Julio, realizing Aguilar may have dumped it before they caught him, goes looking. At the same time, Aguilar claims that he was retrieving his mother's car when he killed the thieves and when they attacked him, he killed them which is justifiable homicide as he was defending himself and his property, even if it was illegal. His lawyer offers a deal for the drug possession and the Range Rover he stole to get the car back but refuses to deal on the murders. While trying to find a solution, Raydor realizes that Vega may be wanted in Mexico too and decides to get her fingerprints to check. They also realize that they can threaten to send Aguilar back to Mexico: as he wanted to go before thinking he'd get out of prison and be free, if he goes back now with the three million dollars in heroin in police custody, the cartels will likely kill him. Julio also finds Aguilar's phone and discovers a text from his mother telling him to retrieve the car and deal with the thieves as the thieves know who they are. They show the text to Vega and collect the phone afterwards to get her fingerprints, but she points out that the text doesn't prove she ordered him to murder Garza and his men and doesn't care when they threaten to deport her son, telling them to do it and let him face the consequences. However, they discover she's wanted in Mexico too and offer a deal to Aguilar's attorney: three counts of murder one with a sentence of life without parole in exchange for Aguilar admitting to murdering Garza and his men and telling them everything they want to know about Vega's drug operation. At first the lawyer refuses, believing his client won't rat his mother out, but Raydor informs him they are deporting Vega and has Provenza take her out into the murder room so he can see her hysterical reaction to the news as she will be killed by the cartels, threatening to deport Aguilar too if he doesn't take a deal. The thoroughly horrified attorney accepts the deal if the sentence is served in the United States which Hobbs agrees to. Guest Cast *Ben Feldman as Jason Andrews *Luis Jose Lopez as Juan Diaz/Manuel Luis Vega Aguilar *Elizabeth Peña as Rosa Vega *Amir Arison as Public Defender David Ahmed *Patrick Robert Smith as Officer Leland Cotty Recurring *Kathe Mazur as DDA Andrea Hobbs *D.B. Sweeney as FBI Special Agent Morris Locations Episode Notes Trivia Episode Media Category:Major Crimes Category:MC Season 2 Category:Episodes